Stretching My Dollars

productive day

July 25th, 2005 at 01:57 pm

Today has been a very productive day for me.

I woke up, cleaned the kitchen and did the dishes, threw in a load of laundry while checking my email, and made my doctor's appointment for pre-surgery bloodwork. I then called Discover, as my SO had mistakenly used the card a week or two ago, and we incurred a $35 overlimit fee (he got an earful for that one - luckily, Discover took the charge off this time). I did (and am doing) more laundry, and SO went off to get the paperwork issues taken care of for his new job. Before he left, I questioned him ~ he is sure that everything is fine and that he definitely has it, he has the offer of employment letter, etc. So I transferred money out of ING and paid off the Sears card that we used to purchase his sister's present, and also paid off Dell

Only 2 more to go! Best Buy & Discover, here I come...

I felt that familiar feeling of elation when I scheduled those payments. I haven't felt that in quite a few months. I then decided to do a little 'credit cleaning' - I closed out inactive credit card accounts, those being Macy's, Express, and Wal-mart. I think technically you aren't supposed to close accounts all at the same time, who knows, but I don't plan on making any inquiries and just wanted it done and over with. I had left a bunch of accounts open because I had heard you shouldn't close accounts, but I still think the high number of open accounts is hurting me, even if the balance is zero. Most of them also have low limits, which I believe is another negative factor. I can't keep track of all the credit report rules anymore

My big success of the day? Remember that I had complained about the collection agency situation that was affecting my credit? Today I decided to do something about it. I looked up ER Solutions (the collection agency) on the web, and sent them an email, describing the situation, and while I didn't complain in my email about the situation like I did in my post, I did mention the circumstances and how it had come to the point that my debt even came to them - it wasn't like I purposely went into debt on that situation. I asked them if this could be removed from my credit report, as I contacted them immediately and never had caused any problems in paying them. I must say, they have pretty good customer service, because not even 2 hours later, I received a call from Kathleen at ERS. She told me she had processed my request both electronically and that I would also receive a letter, and she had notified all three credit bureaus...I am happy, and impressed.

Again, I have learned that sometimes all I have to do is ask.

A sidenote - apparently NJ is trying to ban smokers from smoking in cars. I am happy with this, only because I think smoking is unhealthy and debilitating to your finances, but I imagine someone telling me I can't drink a Coke in my car...and that isn't cool. Not sure how I really feel about this, but thought it was interesting.